Obama slams Trump, Ramaswamy at first 2026 midterm rally
Former US president Barack Obama criticised President Donald Trump over his handling of the economy and the war in Iran, while condemning Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for a controversial campaign advertisement targeting Democrat Amy Acton’s family.
Speaking at a rally in Cleveland on Saturday, Obama urged voters to support Acton and Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, as the midterm elections approach.
Referring to Ramaswamy’s advertisement featuring Acton’s mother, Obama said political office should not come at the cost of basic decency.
“There’s gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,” he said, questioning how standards of behaviour had fallen to the point where a candidate could run such an advertisement.
Acton had spoken about her childhood shortly before Obama took the stage.
She was removed from her mother’s home after her stepfather was charged with raping her.
Obama also accused Trump of breaking promises made during his 2024 election campaign, citing the ongoing war in Iran and his failure to bring down the cost of living.
Taking aim at renovations to the White House, Obama said Trump had “got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory”.
He said Americans would have to live with the current administration for another two years but argued that voters were not obliged to accept what he described as a “spineless Congress” and Republican governors enabling “lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference for working people”.
The Cleveland rally marked Obama’s first appearance at a rally in the 2026 midterm election cycle.
He is also scheduled to campaign for Democrats in Detroit on Sunday before travelling to Georgia for an October 28 rally with Senator Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Obama, who won Ohio in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, has increasingly taken an active role in campaigning for Democrats ahead of the midterms.